Wrench



(No Model.)

A. J. HIGGINS.

Wrench.

No. 228,634. Patented June 8,1880.

him eases: Inventor.

N PETERS, PHOTO-LJKKOGRAPHER, WASHINGTONv D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT J. HIGGINS, OF STA NDISH, MAINE.

WRENCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 228,634, dated June 8, 1880.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT J. HIGGINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Standish, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented a new and Improved Wrench, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to wrenches used. for removing and replacing nuts of carriage-axles; and the objects of my improvements are First, to provide a nut-receiving box on the end of a sliding head, the shank of the head being inserted centrallyinto a socket of a 1ongitudinal or straighthandle, and also to provide jaws for clasping the hub-band, said jaws being on a bar at right angles to the axis of the handle. The nut-receivin g box is made selfadjusting by means of a spring, and the jaws are adjustable on their guide-bar by hand.

Second, to provide a revolving many-chambered nut-receiver upon the yielding head, in combination with the adj ustable j aws for clasping the band of the hub.

These objects I attain by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of my improved wrench, and also of a portion of a carriage-hub illustrating the construction and use of my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail front view of the head and nut-receiver. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the wrench complete. Fig. 4 is a section in the line 00 w of Fig. 1, looking to the right hand.

Similar letters of reference in the severalv figures refer to similar parts in all the views.

The handle A is bored out, so as to receive a spiral spring, a, the shank of the head B of the wrench, and the hollow collar 1) of the guide-bar O of the jaws D D, as shown. The shank c bears against a pin, a, in the spring a, and it is steadied, strengthened, and guided by the bar 0 and its collar 1) while it is playing back and forth in the socket of the handle A.

In the head B a square box-shaped receiver, D, is pivoted by means of a rod, (1, passed through the jaws of the head and through the center of the receiver D. The receiver has passages or chambers e, of different diameters, formed in it, and by this means, in connection with its capability of being turned around on from the axle.

the rod 11, it is adapted for fitting upon axle nuts, as at f, of different diameters. The receiver D is shown as formed with a stay-bar, f,- but this may be dispensed with, if desired.

The guide-bar O is square, and has a stoppin, g, at its outer end for keeping the jaws upon it. The jaws which clasp the hubband may be faced at h h with leather or other material, so as not to scratch or mar the hubband at i i. The two jaws are slipped upon the guide, coupled together by a clampingscrew, j, and are prevented from getting off the bar by the stop-pin g. When the jaws are clasping the hub-baud their gripe is maintained by the screw j.

To use the wrench it is only necessary to insert the head of the wrench into the hubband, and then to force the nut-receiver D upon the nut of the axle, as illustrated in Fig. 1. This done, the jaws, which were spread apart so as to stand on opposite sides of the hubband before the head was introduced into the said band, are screwed tight together upon the band. The operation of pressing the nutreceiver of the head upon the nut of the axle causes the head B, with the receiver D, to move backward,- and thereby compress the spring a. The receding of the head and receiver allows the respective jaws D D to pass under and over the hub-band far enough to insure a firm clasping hold upon the band, as shown in Fig. l of the drawings. All being ready for the removal of the wheel, the hand is withdrawn from the wrench and the wheel is turned backward until the nut is run off All the'time that the nut is being turned the spring a is pressing it with considerable force against the end of the axlebox of the hub, and in consequence thereof the wheel is caused in its backward revolutions to travel off the arm of the axle as fast as the nut travels off the threaded end thereof, and therefore, when the nut is freed from the end of the arm of the axle, it is still kept in close 5 contact with the end of the axle-box, where it remains, under the pressure of the spring to, until the wheel is again placed upon the axle. Thus the nut is always kept concentric with the axle and in proper position for being 100 screwed upon the axle, and by replacing the wheel, and turning it around in a forward direction, it can be secured upon, the axle without any adjustment of the nut by hand. The

5 jaws are unclasped from the hub-band and the wrench withdrawn after the wheel is replaced and the nut screwed on the axle.

The main novelty and utility of my wrench consist in having the head B in the same line as the handle and the jaws D on a bar at right angles to the head, as by this arrangement a much more convenient and durable article is produced, and at the same time the spring can be applied in the handle and its pressure exerted in the proper direction. The convenience with which the jaws can be adjusted for bands of greater or less extension and bands of diii'erent diameters and the adaptability of the nut-receiver for nuts of different sizes render my wrench a very useful and convenient tool for use upon wheeled Vehicles.

I am aware that nuts have been turned oft the ends of axles by means of wrenches clamped to the hub-bands of wheels; but the construction ofthe wrenches heretofore devised differed very essentially from the one I have described and shown.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The wrench having a yielding longitudinally-sliding head, B, in combination with laterally-sliding jaws D, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of the handle A, spring a, head B, nut-receiver D, of suitable construction, guide-bar O, and jaws D, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The combination of the revolving manychambered nut-receiver D, yielding head B, handle A, bar O,'and elaspiug-jaws D 1), substantially as and for the purpose described.

ALBERT J. HIGGINS.

Witnesses HORACE DAY, ALBRA T. HILL. 

